The Letter For The King
by FortissimoMaestro
Summary: Shindou Takuto is a squire and is about to pass his last test to become a knight when he gets the message to bring a letter to the king of the country Unaumn. As he travels he finds new friends and new enemies. Will he be able to deliver this letter safely? Rated T for some reason. [Slight TakuRan, and with that I mean that it could really disappoint you.]
1. Chapter 1 The Letter For The King

_I came up with this story after watching this Dutch movie, I hope you like it._

_I do not own anything, the characters belong to Level-5 and the storyline belongs to De Brief Voor De Koning._

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Chapter 1: The Letter For The King

A loud noise sounded as the two swords hit each other. Shindou advanced and pushed the smaller male, making him fall. He turned around and looked at his sword. "Not good, Shindou!" A tutor said. "But what I did was..." "No, not good enough, do it again." The tutor commanded. Shindou sighed and looked at his opponent who stood up again. "Here I go, Fei." He said. "Ah." The latter replied and advanced. Shindou jumped forwards. A loud clang sounded. Shindou's mind cleared, he had done this so many times. This time was no exception. He twisted his elbow and got Fei out of his balance. He fell and Shindou looked at the tutor, who nodded. "Now finish it." Shindou nodded and brought the point of his sword to Fei's throat. "You are now dead." He said and turned away. Fei got up and the tutor exclaimed. "I've seen enough, make yourself ready for tonight!" On what the five squires yelled in union. "Hai!" And left the room.

"But why is he so tempered?" Shindou asked his mother as she pulled the white robe over his head. "Because he's afraid that he won't experience the time that you become a knight, after the death of your older brother." She replied and took the leather cord. Shindou sighed, he already knew that. His mother give him a quick kiss on his forehead as she fastened the cord around his waist. The door opened and Shindou looked up. "Father?" He inquired. His mother took a step back and Shindou walked to his father, who took a minute to look at him and finally answered. "Tomorrow's the big day, you only need to fulfill the last test." He said and patted Shindou's arm. Shindou nodded. He made a decision, he didn't want to be his father's squire for four more years, he was going to pass the next and last test, no matter what.

That evening the five squires assembled in the church for their last test. The king of Dagonaut appeared and told them their last test.

"You all did well, there's just one last test you have to pass. Outside this city, there's a chapel. You'll have to spend you night there, you're not allowed to speak a word, eat or sleep. And never open the door, not for anyone. You may pray and dream about being a knight. The next morning your fathers will get you and if you passed this test, you'll get the accolade in this church. Do you understand?"

The squires then straightened up. "Yes, your majesty."

That evening the squires went to the chapel. Shindou walked a few metres behind them, looking at his friends. They've spent four years on this, and now they were gonna pass. The tallest one of them, Tsurugi, turned his head and gave him a small nod. Nishiki was extraordinary quiet and Fei and Kageyama looked nervous at each other. Shindou hushed and caught up to Tsurugi. They walked to the chapel and got inside. Shindou watched his friends as they sat down on their knees in front of an altar. There were exactly five and each one had one of them. Shindou bend down next to Tsurugi and Fei. He looked at them for a second, they looked determined. He didn't know for how long they sat there with their hands folded. All he could hear was their breathing and the shifting of their feet over the floor as they moved into another position. No one hasn't broken a single rule yet.

They sat there for a couple of hours when someone knocked on the door. The first time was soft, the next harder. Shindou looked at the door. "Please, help me. I'm seriously injured." The voice behind the door said. Two thoughts flashed through Shindou's mind. If he stayed here, he would get the accolade tomorrow, and his father would be proud of him for the first time in years. But, if this man indeed was injured, he had to help him. He knew he didn't have the heart to let someone die if there was no need for. The man knocked on the door once again. Shindou stood up and slowly walked to the door. Tsurugi and Fei looked at each other while Kageyama patted Nishiki's shoulder. What was their friend gonna do? Shindou grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door. If someone was joking him right here, he would probably kill him. But it was true, there stood a man with purple hair that covered his left eye and his head seemed injured. "There's someone, yougatta." The man sighed in relieve. Shindou stepped outside. "What are you doing here?" He whispered. "I'm not supposed to talk to anyone." And before the other man could say something, the door behind Shindou was closed with a loud "bang". The last thing Shindou could see behind the door were Tsurugi's yellow eyes. He knocked on the door. "Tsurugi, for God's sake!" Shindou shouted at his childhood friend. He then turned to the man. "What do you want with me?" He asked angry, his chance had been destroyed in seconds. His father would kill him.

"I've got a letter for the king." The man said. Shindou looked at him and waited for him to continue, his interest was immediately caught by the man. "Now that I can't bring it myself anymore, a knight like you has to do it." He said. "But I can't, I'm not even a knight." Shindou said. But the man didn't seem to be interested in that. He handed him over a letter. "Bring this to the knight with the blue and white shield, he's in the forest on the east side. But look out for the black knights." The man told him. Shindou just nodded and put the letter inside his robe. "Take my horse, I don't need it anymore. And say that you come from Kudou Michiya." The man continued as Shindou jumped on his horse and galloped to the forest. _What on earth was he doing?_

Outside it wasn't that dark anymore. Shindou rushed to the east side of the forest to look for the knight with the blue and white shield when he got disturbed by the sound of riders. They rode on the trail above him. Shindou made himself a bit smaller by bending down on his horse. Those were the black riders, the patrollers of the country Evilean, Shindou knew. Evilean was a rough country and was led by the younger brother of the Crown prince of Unaumn, another country. Himself was about to become a knight of the mighty country Dragonout, but he messed up, and he knew that.

When the black riders were passed, Shindou let the horse speed up and rode further into the forest. At some point, he swears that he saw something black moving in the distance. Could that be the knight he was looking for? As the black moving thing came nearby, it turned out to be a horse. Shindou jumped off his horse and walked to the creature, there was an arrow stuck in its saddle. The horse turned around and walked off, but Shindou knew that something happened and followed it. A horse couldn't be here on its own, all tacked up.

The horse led him to a knight who was lying on the ground, he wasn't moving. Shindou looked at his shield, it was blue and white. Out of curiosity, he walked to the knight and looked at him. To his surprise, the knight was still alive. "Excuse me, sir?" Shindou said insecure. "What is it, my son?" The knight whispered. "Who are you?" He added. "Shindou Takuto sir." Shindou whispered. "You are the son of Shindou the Brave, aren't you?" The knight asked him, he nodded. "Yes, Shindou the Brave is indeed my father." The knight smiled a bit. "I've got the letter for the king, Kudou Michiya sent me." Shindou added to his latest sentence and pushed up the valve of the knight's helmet so that he could see his face. The knight was quite old and his face looked tired.

Shindou got the letter out of his robe and gave it to the knight. "Listen" the latter said "now that I can't do it anymore, you'll have to bring this letter." Shindou looked away. "But why me? Why not a real knight?" He asked. The old man paused for a bit before he spoke up. "Because they don't know you, so you won't be a possible target." Shindou opened his mouth to object but the knight was faster. "This letter is of vital importance for the king of Unaumn and his empire, so also for your country. Shindou, you have to do it, I trust you. ... But look out for the black riders, they're dangerous. Bring it there, before..." And with that, the knight exhaled his last breath. Shindou stood up and walked backwards, he wanted to get away from the dead knight as soon as possible, it was kinda freaking him out. He put the letter back into his robe and looked around, Kudou's horse was gone, but the knight's horse was still there. Shindou walked to it, pulled the arrow out of its saddle and broke it in two pieces. He should never have left that chapel.

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_So that's the end of this chapter, I hope you liked it^^_

_I'll try to update it soon._


	2. Chapter 2 The Talkative Robber

Chapter 2: The Talkative Robber

Shindou rode straight to the blue creek when he got on the horse. He was lucky that the knight told him the way to Unaumn before he died. Otherwise he should have asked people around here and that would only make him suspicious. And the people around here would be able to recognize him if the black knights came to look for him. Other than the way, the knight also gave him his ring and said the following thing. "_Take this with you to the king, he'll trust you and listen to what you've got to say._" Shindou didn't really understand, but he trusted the knight. As they reached the creek, Shindou jumped off his horse and walked to the water. He knelt down and shove the water into his face. _Wake up Takuto, it's just a dream. _That little voice in his head kept saying. But he knew that this was real. Right now, he was fugitive without really realizing or being a criminal. He knew that the Black riders were looking for someone like him, like Kudou said.

The letter for the king appeared out of his robe as Shindou stood up. He looked at it, it was sealed with two seals to keep anyone from reading it. Shindou remembered what the knight also said. "_Don't open this letter under any circumstance, but only if your life's in danger, then you should open and read it._" He had said. "_But, when you have read it, you have to destroy the letter." _Shindou put the letter back into his robe and walked to the horse. He sighed and stroke the animal's nose. "So now it's only you and me," he whispered before he got onto its back again.

He roamed around in the forest for a couple of hours, thinking. _What would my friends have done? Have they all passed the test? How would my father have feel when he heard that I ran away? Will he think I'm just a coward who can't carry the pressure? How would mother feel? _His head shot up as someone came closer. It was someone of the black riders. _Calm down Takuto, if you act like that, he'll think you're a criminal. _Shindou clamped the reins with his sweaty hands and held his breath as the rider almost passed him. He greeted the rider by giving a small nod. The black rider looked at him for a second, but then looked away and continued. When he passed him, Shindou took a deep breath. Behind Shindou, another black rider showed up and talked to the other one who just passed Shindou without suspicion. Shindou looked behind and saw that they were pointing at him. _This was bad._

Just as they were about to catch up to him, Shindou urged his horse to move on in canter. "Hold it right here!" He heard one of them exclaim. Well he's not that crazy, and moved on in a long gallop. The two black riders chased after him and he could hear them shouting. "Stop that boy!" And in no time, from the left and right side, more black riders appeared, two in the left and three on the right.

It was no use to escape from them, Shindou knew and turned left. To his surprise, there was a rock outcropping. He let his horse slow down and jumped of its back, he hasn't come to standstill and Shindou almost fell, as fast as he could, he ran to the rocks and climbed on them, where he lied down, breathing heavy.

A few seconds later, the riders passed without seeing him, they rushed after Shindou's horse who was still running in the distance. When they were gone and there was no sound of anymore, Shindou dared to sit up and looked around. He didn't see anyone and stood up. As he walked down, he kept looking at his surroundings. The sky was grey and the forest looked dark. When Shindou turned around his horse was standing behind him. He walked to the animal and took the reins. "You're a good boy." He whispered and got onto his back again. While continuing on his way, Shindou looked around for the black riders. He didn't want to meet them again.  
Suddenly someone came out of the bushes and dragged Shindou off his horse against the ground. He couldn't move for a second.

Two other men grabbed his horse. "Give us your money!" One of them said. "I don't have money." Shindou replied. "Check his pockets," their leader commanded and pulled Shindou up. As Shindou turned around, he could see his face. The boy was around his age, somewhere around sixteen, but he was longer, had white hair and a black hairband. One of the other two walked up to him and stuck his hands in Shindou's pockets while the larger one held him firmly and swore to let him stop struggling. "He has no money, Ibuki-sama." The smaller one said.

Their leader, so-called Ibuki let go of Shindou and inspected him. He grinned, "you've got a fancy ring. How about you give that to us?" He said. "No. I just got this ring from someone who passed away, it's really precious to me." Shindou growled. Ibuki sighed. "I've got a deal for you, if you had to choose between your horse and this ring, which would you choose?" He asked. "Both," Shindou answered without hesitation. The other boy laughed a bit before he pulled a weapon out of his pocket. "Now serious, choose. Or I'll cut that finger off." He said with that awful grin on his face and grabbed Shindou's robe. "The ring!" Shindou exclaimed at last. Ibuki turned his head to the smaller one. "What are we gonna do, Tetsukado?" The smaller man shrugged. "Take that horse." Ibuki turned to Shindou again. "Whatever. You must call yourself lucky, we often don't agree with that." He said as he pushed the brunette as he let him go, making him trip. Shindou looked at how the three men took his horse, then stood up and walked away.

He had to go further on his own. It was around noon and he was quite hungry now. He walked around for a few hours before he found a cove between two rocks. He crawled under then and sat down. After a few minutes, his eyelids felt heavy and he closed them.

He was in the chapel again. The fathers of Tsurugi, Fei, Kageyama and Nishiki appeared and took their sons until Shindou was alone. He waited and in the end, his father also appeared, but he looked disappointed. Shindou tried to speak to him, but his father turned around and walked away. He wanted to tell him sorry, he wanted to apologize, he wanted to make him proud, but it was all to waste.

Shindou's head shot up at the sound of voices nearby.

Had he been dreaming? Who would it be now? Curious, he looked to where the voices came from. "Liar!" Someone exclaimed. It was a knight, but he wasn't from Dragonout, he must be from Unaumn. Next to the knights stood a boy who seemed really familiar to Shindou, it was the robber, Ibuki. The boy tried to convince the knight but didn't come really far. "This horse was given to us by a boy-" He tried to say. "That's not true, we know this horse. It's Sartan from the knight with the blue and white shield." He was cut off by a knight with purple hair. "But sir, what I told you is the truth." Ibuki tried to say. "No." Was the short answer of the same knight. "Alpha," another said. "Maybe that was…" His leader turned around. "I know, Einamu, this is the one we were looking for." Their leader stated. "How did the boy look?" He asked Ibuki. "I don't know, it was dark, so I couldn't really see him." Those replied. "I said, how did he look? Now answer!" Alpha exclaimed. "Wakata..." Ibuki growled, "he had brown hair and brown eyes."

The following things were so inaudible that Shindou couldn't hear them, his heart was pounding in his throat. _Great, now they were also looking for him._ When they all were gone, Shindou came out of his shelter.

After a few hours of being lost in the forest, Shindou reaches a local path. In the distance he sees two people on a wagon with two horses in front of it. Without thinking or searching any further, he starts running in the direction of the wagon. As he reached them, he saw two monks who wore a black long jacket and a hood. "Good afternoon," Shindou spoke as they came to halt. "Could it be possible that I ride along you?" He added. One of the monks nodded. "Where do you need to go?" He asked. "The east," Shindou replied. "To the mountain." The monks looked at each other. "Fine, we also go in that direction." The other said. Shindou climbed in the wagon and sat down. He hushed because he didn't want to tell them what he was going to do. "Are you cold?" One of them asked after a while. Shindou nodded. "A bit." The monk grabbed a long black jacket from the wagon and gave it to Shindou, who mumbled a "thank you" and put it on. "Are you hungry?" The same one asked again. "No, well... Yes." Shindou replied. The monk smiled at him and handed him over a piece of bread.

In the main time, Shindou told where he was going to. "That's a long trip," the eldest said. "I think it's better to sleep over in the city Dragonout." Shindou nodded. "I will do that." And just when he finished his sentence, they heard the sound of a horse. Shindou turned his head and saw a rider. _He was aiming for this wagon._ Shindou thought as he put on his hood. The rider came nearby and asked the two monks if they had seen a boy with brown hair and brown eyes. "No." The monk said on that. The rider raised his eyebrow. "Can you all take off your hood?" He asked. The two monks did so politely, but Shindou didn't, he knew what would happen if he did. _This is the end of my journey._

"Sir, take off your hood now" the rider said again and with reluctance, Shindou took off his hood.

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_I hope you like this chapter for now._

_This is the last day of my spring holiday, and I still need to finish a collab, so I don't think I'll update very soon._

_As for my other stories, I'll continue them, when I have time and inspiration.^^_

_Please leave a review with what you think of it._


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